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UNSC/Covenant Trade Crisis
The UNSC/Covenant Trade Crisis was an incident that occurred from 2554 to 2569, where language and social barriers between the two alien alliances led to a drastic miscommunication, resulting in galactic bankruptcy. Stemmed entirely from a cultural difference in counting systems, it has since become known as one of the most important events signaling the troubles of alien communication. Origins and Mechanics During the creation the Writ of Union at the end of the San'Shyuum/Sangheili War, one of the most important facets to be decided was the commerce and trade system, as the two races had agreed to share their wealth and unique products. The most basic of these to be established was their counting system. Prior to the arrival of the Prophets, the Elites had used a counting system based on the number 8, as this was the total number of their fingers. The Prophets however, having one less finger, used a counting system based on the number 6. As a compromise, a conciliatory math system was created, this time based on the number 7. All races inducted into the Covenant had to adopt this new format, regardless of previous cultural norms. This was confusing for races like the Unggoy, whose counting system was based on the number 3, and to the Huragok it was a constant annoyance, as their incredible intellect allowed them to forgo mathematical grouping systems all together. By contrast, humanity and the UNSC with it had traditionally had a counting system based on the number 10, a grouping which exceeded that of any of the known Covenant races. As a result, this ambiguity in translation would result in havoc in mutual trade and barterdom. For example, if a human were to ask an Elite for 10 Plasma Rifles, the Elite would give them what HE would call “10”; in this case the human would only receive 7 Plasma Rifles. By contrast, if an Elite were to ask a human for 10 Plasma Rifles, the human would give the Elite what the Covenant would call “13.” This problem would only get worse exponentially the higher one got so, as shown in the charts below. Covenant to Human Ratios :::Covenant 10(Human value 7) :::Covenant 20(Human value 14) :::Covenant 30(Human value 21) :::Covenant 40(Human value 28) :::Covenant 50(Human value 35) :::Covenant 80(Human value 56) :::Covenant 100(Human value 70) :::Covenant 150(Human value 105) :::Covenant 200(Human value 140) :::Covenant 500(Human value 350) :::Covenant 1000(Human value 700) :::Covenant 5000(Human value 3500) :::Covenant 1,000,000(Human value 700,000) :::Covenant 10,000,000(Human value 7,000,000) Human to Covenant Ratios :::Human 10(Covenant value 13) :::Human 20(Covenant value 26) :::Human 30(Covenant value 39) :::Human 40(Covenant value 52) :::Human 50(Covenant value 65) :::Human 80(Covenant value 104) :::Human 100(Covenant value 130) :::Human 150(Covenant value 195) :::Human 200(Covenant value 260) :::Human 500(Covenant value 650) :::Human 1000(Covenant value 1300) :::Human 5000(Covenant value 6500) :::Human 1,000,000(Covenant value 1,300,000) :::Human 10,000,000(Covenant value 13,000,000) Human-Covenant War Period During the Human-Covenant War, early problems with translation of numerical quantities Covenant transmissions intercepted by ONI were already being detected. Often, the communications would call for an incredible amount of warships, ground troops, starfighters, etc. but the actual invasion force itself always turned out to be nearly 1/3rd smaller than expected, though still formidable enough to reduce a single colony planet to a molten slag within 20 hours. However, the sheer quickness of UNSC defeats did not allow for enough time to calculate the actual number of Covenant forces, and the few existing records of this anomaly were destroyed at Battle of Reach. Since human offensives were so far and few in between, and unsually done in secret, the Covenant did not get many chances to detect this anomaly themselves, though the few times that they did, it was of little matter because their technology was so much superior. After the end of the war, however, this oft-ignored problem would soon rise again.